Young Lions pay painful penalty
GARETH Southgate, a man with his own painful memories of penalty shoot-out defeats in European Championship semifinals on home soil, saw history repeat itself in Chesterfield last night when England’s Under-17 team exited the junior version of the tournament.
Arsenal’s Flo Balogun was the unfortunate England player to see his effort kept out by Joey Koorevaar, a save that booked Holland a
ENGLAND U17
place in Sunday’s final against Italy.
For Steve Cooper’s England, beaten in the Euro final on penalties 12 months ago, defeat was all the more frustrating given he was without three starters due to injury and suspensions.
Cooper said: “They’ve had a tough group to get through, the pressure of playing at home, bigger crowds than usual, knockout football and a penalty shoot-out.
“Who knows, losing a shoot-out might be something that helps them down the line. We want to give them experience for when they go up through the ages and shoot-outs are part of international football.”
Southgate, who famously missed a penalty in the Euro 96 semi-final shoot-out against Germany, saw England pay for a string of missed chances late in the first half.
Full-back Bukayo Saka shot over from a promising position. Soon after Matt Daly’s pass freed Tino Anjorin, whose strong run ended with a shot that beat Koorevaar but rebounded to safety off a post.
Bobby Duncan, cousin of Steven Gerrard, narrowly missed from a free-kick and, moments before the break, barely failed to connect with Saka’s far-post cross.
The Dutch looked more dangerous after the break. Man of the match Mohammed Ihatteren had a shot turned away by Luca Ashby-Hammond before rolling a shot inches wide.
In the end England were made to pay a far steeper price for their misses, being knocked out of their home tournament after yet more penalty misery.